Anthony Davis stars for Lakers; Joel Embiid leads 76ers to victory; eight in a row for on-song Jazz; Houston rack up big win over Mavericks
Sunday 24 January 2021 09:16, UK
Kevin Durant scored 31 points as the Brooklyn Nets never trailed, survived multiple fourth-quarter comeback attempts and a career-high 41-point night by Bam Adebayo in a 128-124 victory over Miami Heat on Saturday in New York.
Kyrie Irving added 18 of his 28 points in a fourth quarter that saw the Nets survive multiple comeback attempts by the Heat.
Joe Harris added 23 and tied a career-high with seven 3-pointers but it was a quiet night for James Harden who did not make a basket until the fourth, finishing with 12 points and 11 assists as Brooklyn shot 53.7%, tied a season best with 19 three-pointers, and collected a season-high 34 assists.
Adebayo surpassed his previous career high of 30 points in December 2019 and made 14 of 20 shots but did not hit a basket in the final 5 1/2 minutes.
Goran Dragic added 19 while Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn finished with 18 apiece as the Heat shot 70 percent in the fourth but ultimately a 47.2% overall record meant they were always playing catch up.
The Nets rebounded from two losses in Cleveland by starting off fast, leading by as many as 18 before surviving Miami's comebacks in the fourth but the Heat, despite drawing within one, were unable to overhaul Brooklyn who edged a thrilling contest
Anthony Davis scored a game-high 37 points on 14-for-21 shooting only a few miles from his childhood home, and the Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a 101-90 win over the host Chicago Bulls.
LA improved to a perfect 9-0 on the road to start the season, LeBron James notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who won for the seventh time in their past eight games.
Zach LaVine finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bulls, whose three-game winning streak came to an end. Coby White had 14 points, while Patrick Williams (13) and Lauri Markkanen (12) also scored in double digits.
It was the Lakers second January victory over the Bulls, following up a narrow 117-115 win in LA with a more dominant win on Saturday night, racing to a 63-33 lead at the half.
The 30-point margin was Los Angeles' largest lead of the first half, while the Bulls' biggest advantage was two points early in the first quarter. The Bulls broke out of their malaise in the third quarter, tallying a 33-20 advantage to trim the deficit to 83-66.
Denzel Valentine and White drained back-to-back 3-pointers for the Bulls, who also received a free throw from Williams to pull within 13 points. But Los Angeles finished the third quarter with two baskets by Davis to push the lead to 17 and never looked back
Joel Embiid had 33 points and 14 rebounds, and his two free throws with 7.2 seconds left helped Philadelphia seal a victory over Detroit.
Ben Simmons added 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the 76ers, and he made a couple of big free throws of his own in the final minute.
Philadelphia sit atop the Eastern Conference but couldn't push their lead over the last-place Pistons into double figures until early in the fourth quarter, when Dwight Howard's dunk put the 76ers up 99-88.
Detroit trailed 110-108 after Jerami Grant made a 3-pointer with 28.5 seconds left, but Simmons calmly made two free throws to push the lead to four.
Delon Wright's layup made it 112-110, but Embiid closed the game out with his free throws and finished 12 of 17 from the line.
Wayne Ellington scored 17 points for the Pistons.
Steph Curry moved up to No. 2 on the NBA's all-time three-pointers list, but that was about the only thing that went the Golden State Warriors' way in a 127-108 blowout loss against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
Donovan Mitchell led a balanced and explosive offensive performance for the red-hot Jazz, who led the whole game and by as many as 40, with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists in just 27 minutes.
Five other players scored in double-figures for the Jazz, who won their league-leading eighth consecutive game.
Mike Conley hit five of the Jazz's 20 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Bojan Bogdanovic totaled 14 points, a career-high eight assists and seven rebounds in 26 minutes.
Rudy Gobert contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds, while Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles combined for 27 off the bench.
Curry finished with 24 points and five threes, with his fourth three-pointer pushing him past Hall of Famer Reggie Miller for the second-most made triples in NBA history. Curry has made 2,562, trailing only Ray Allen (2,973).
Despite that milestone, the Warriors dropped their fourth game in six outings and their ninth in their last 11 against a Jazz team who never looked back from a 14-0 game to start the contest.
Eric Gordon and DeMarcus Cousins delivered their best performances of the season as the Houston Rockets claimed a wire-to-wire, 133-108 victory over the host Dallas Mavericks.
Gordon scored a season-high 33 points on 6-for-9 3-point shooting while Cousins posted his second double-double with season bests in points (28) and rebounds (17).
The Rockets, who led by as many as 26 points prior to extended garbage time, won both ends of a road back-to-back by following up a one-point win at Detroit Friday with exceptional shooting, including 16 three-pointers.
The Mavericks, victorious in San Antonio on Friday, were without five members of their rotation, four sidelined by health and safety protocols. Kristaps Porzingis (rest) also did not participate.
Despite the short-handed roster, the Mavericks sliced what was once a 16-point deficit to 74-71 with a 12-4 run to open the third quarter. The burst started with a three-point possession that closed the first half and concluded when
Luka Doncic converted an 11-footer that forced a Houston timeout. But Cousins almost single-handedly stemmed the tide with a sudden display of perimeter sharpshooting, drilling a trio of 3s that pushed the Rockets to an 86-75 advantage.
Doncic paired 26 points with eight assists to pace the Mavericks, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points but missed 5 of 6 threes while Boban Marjanovic posted a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Dallas shot a woeful five of 25 from behind the arc and were outrebounded 52-36.
Naz Reid scored 20 points to lead six Minnesota players in double figures as the short-handed Timberwolves defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 120-110 in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards added 18 points, Jarred Vanderbilt had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jarrett Culver and Malik Beasley scored 16 each and Jordan McLaughlin had 11 as the Timberwolves won for just the second time in 13 games.
Minnesota entered the game with the worst record in the Western Conference and had scored fewer than 99 points in four of its last five games, including a 116-98 home loss to Atlanta on Friday.
The Timberwolves played Saturday without Karl-Anthony Towns and Juancho Hernangomez, who are sidelined because of COVID protocols, and D'Angelo Russell, who was resting.
Brandon Ingram scored 30 points, Eric Bledsoe added 28, Zion Williamson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Lonzo Ball scored 11 and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 10 as the Pelicans finished 1-5 on their road trip.
Nikola Jokic had 29 points and 22 rebounds, Jamal Murray hit a difficult 3-pointer to force overtime and the Denver Nuggets outlasted Phoenix Suns 120-112 in two overtimes - the second straight night the teams played extra basketball.
The Nuggets won 130-126 in a single overtime Friday after rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit and Saturday's game was even more entertaining.
Chris Paul hit a 15-foot jumper with 12 seconds left in regulation to put the Suns ahead 98-95 but Murray responded with an off-balance three-pointer that splashed through the net as time expired.
Murray hit an off-balance three-pointer with Deandre Ayton in his face as time expired in regulation. Phoenix's Jae Crowder responded with three himself with 0.7 seconds left in the first overtime.
By comparison, the final minutes were boring as the Nuggets scored the first five points of the second overtime and never trailed, Jokic scored 12 of his 29 points during the two overtimes.
Murray added 26 in total, while Michael Porter Jr. came off the bench to score 14 points and grab 11 rebounds.
Crowder and Paul led the Suns with 21 points each although Phoenix played without All-Star guard Devin Booker for the first time this season - averaging a team-high 22.9 points, he hurt his left hamstring on Friday.
